When the Scottish Government announced its emergency sports fund last month, many people in football were less than impressed by the amount doled out to the national sport. Yes, the £30million total was a decent headline figure - but the £20m of that which went to the Premiership was only a loan.
By contrast, you didn’t hear any rugby supporters complaining when their sport got £20m - three-quarters of it a grant, with only £5m as a loan. The reason why Scottish Rugby did so well can be summed up in two words: Dominic McKay.
When the SRU’s chief operating officer takes over from Peter Lawwell as Celtic’s chief executive in the summer, he will have big shoes to fill. Other than a longstanding affection for the club, he has little real experience of Scottish football, and when not at rugby matches likes to spend some of his spare time sailing.
That could lead some people to think he’ll be out of his depth at Parkhead. That would be a mistake.
McKay is a smooth operator and a quick learner, and if there’s something he doesn’t know, he makes it his job to find out as rapidly as possible. He is no political heavyweight like Lawwell. But he will arrive at Celtic without any of the outgoing chief exec’s baggage.
Take those relations with the Scottish Government. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the club’s recent trip to Dubai, Lawwell and Celtic did not exactly win friends in high places as a result of it.
But McKay, head of the SRU’s Threat Management Group for dealing with the pandemic, has maintained an excellent working relationship with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and national clinical director Jason Leitch. He got their agreement for Murrayfield to be used as a test venue for the return of fans back in August, for example. If there have been any disagreements at all, they have been kept private.
And McKay doesn’t just act like that with the great and the good either. He once said his motto was “make a new friend every day”, and he is equally at ease chatting with other supporters.
His ability to schmooze has been increasingly valuable to the SRU since he joined from Pernod Ricard back in 2008 as director of communications and public affairs - not least because his dapper diplomacy is a handy foil to the blunt, shoot-from-the-hip style of chief exec Mark Dodson. His big breakthrough came in 2014 when he secured a long-term, multi-million-pound agreement with BT, and his promotion to COO came the following year.
He played a key role in securing Scotstoun as Glasgow Warriors’ home ground, and as chairman of the PRO14 he has overseen the league’s expansion into South Africa. He was also instrumental in bringing the 2019 PRO14 final to Celtic Park.
McKay will be 43 when he takes up his new job, a year younger than Lawwell was when he began his lengthy tenure in 2003. He has time on his side and energy in abundance. The time is right for a new figure at the helm - and he is the right figure.
